WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR APRIL 2015

Good Morning,

Min love the Magnolias.

Tina prayers for your friend who hit a telephone pole

Sylvia thanks for the articles on probiotics. I do think it is a tool in treating mental health. I had read from other sources that child with autism often have gut issues and that changing the gut bacteria can sometimes help.

Having a healthy gut can help you from getting sick and if you do get sick help you to recover faster. Your immune system relies on your gut. I did take probiotics that you put in the refrigerator for awhile. Now I eat no sugar Greek yogurt ( a brand with live active cultures) and drink Kombucha. I also try to eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables that helps the probiotics do their job. I try to go lightly on the meats because they are harder to digest. I try to avoid sugary foods because they encourage the wrong bacteria. I rarely crave sugary foods now.

Because of my overall healthy diet I do get compliments on how healthy I look.

Over the worst of the cold. Still I cancelled the job I had today and am going to rest.

MNMargaret

Good Friday Morning!

Thanks for the articles on probiotics. I occasionally take them when things don't feel right. The vet recommended that I give them to my Pom.

The horse video is great. That horse can dance a lot better than I can as I have two left feet.

Tina, so sorry about your friend. I wonder if she was having a medical issue that caused the collision?

I love reading all of your posts.

I cannot keep up!!!!!

Thanks to all who take the time to comment to everyone. If I miss something on the first read, I sometimes catch it in the comments. For example, I totally missed the quote on "do no harm and take no sh**, but saw it when someone commented. Love, love, love that one.

I had some posts I wanted to comment on, but now can't keep it straight who said what.

Prayers for the friend in a coma from hitting a telephone pole, and congrats on the decision to retire. I retired first time at 54' then went back to work part-time at 55 and worked yo 59. My DH is 8 1/2 years older, and it was time. Now I am still occupied with my lay speaking stuff and now this sub gig. The consulting didn't take off (probably because I was too busy with other stuff and didn't market it). I'm thinking of changing the direction to tutoring to bring in a little extra blow money. I tutored a girl yesterday that I got through the graduation test then a good enough score on the ACT to get into college on a basketball scholarship. She needed help with an upcoming test in her freshman algebra class. Of course, I never took money when she was a student at the school where I worked. Her dad offered to pay me yesterday, but I asked him to write a testimonial for my website instead. I have no idea how much to charge for tutoring, however. Do any of you have any idea?

Vickie, good luck with the job woes. It sounds to me like your hard work is going to pay off as this new gal hangs herself with her princess demands. Prayers also for all the others who are having issues at work. Hang in there!

Thanks also to the comments on glucosamine and condrointin. The first thing I bought was Advocare Joint Promotion. It did not have condrointin, but did have Gotu Kola extract, MSM, and white willow extract (which my sister says is aspirin. I have no clue!). I thought it was working ok, still some stiffness, but mine isn't really that bad. My friend with MS takes something similar that she gets at the drugstore and says it really helps her. Then my friend with osteoarthritis said her doctor said the condrointin was the key, that the plain didn't help, but she noticed an immediate difference with the condrointin. She takes Wal-mart Equate brand because it is cheaper. I got something called Flex-a-min at Kroger that was BOGO, so I paid $19.99 for a 2 month supply. The Advocare was over $40 for a one month supply, so I won't be buying it again. I'll take up what I have and go from there.

The principal is calling me today to discuss the details of the sub job. He doesn't want me to take the whole day. He just wants me to come in 3 days a week during Calculus to answer their questions. That is way more doable and attractive than working the whole day. Then, if the baby stays in until it's due date, I can still do the whole day in August. If it comes early, she may end up having six weeks before school starts and they won't need me. That will be okay, too. I'm just going with the flow right now.

All I have time for right now. Maybe I can do more later.

K in NEGA

A partial read this am, as I try to catch up

Toni – A live opossum would be a surprise, but I’d have traded you!

Naiomi – great job eating healthy in meetings and on the road, out can be really hard

Katla – glad you are feeling better

Cynthia – I am so glad to hear you stood up for yourself! I hope you went and visited your horse or to the library or something away from the house to avoid the noise.

Sylvia – Sorry to hear all that your DS and DGC (grand children) are going through…

Carol – so scary about your credit card! So I had a Sear’s points running out experience a couple of months ago, went in and bought some pants for my mom to use the points (birthday gift) well I checked the size with her after I had bought them, so then went back to return – sure because the points had expired it would be a problem, but NO as long as I got something else, the discount was carried through to the new item… So you can buy and return to extend the point date.

April goals:
Walk every day
Log all bites everyday
Eat slower
Plan and do a fun thing every week
Week 1 – went to Hakone gardens it is a beautiful Japanese garden established in 1917 and just amazing.
Week 2 – easter (?)
Kim from N. California

Leslie: It sounds like Tasmania has a good system for retirees.

Yanniejannie: I’m sorry about your lost crown. I hope you’re able to get into the dentist soon.

Cary: I love the Churchill quotation.

Michele: Your ceramic pool pets sound like they’re from Alice’s Wonderland. I hope you’ll eventually post pictures.

Tina: I hope you will enjoy your retirement. You’re lucky to be able to afford it at 55. I hope you and DH will be able to enjoy life together for a long time. I am sorry about your friend ‘s accident. I’ll send prayers for her, and for her friends and family.

Sylvia: Thanks for sharing the articles on probiotics and especially the one on anxiety-head/gut. Kids always know more about what is happening in their family than adults think they do. The problem is that they don’t know how to gauge how serious problems are and how the problems may impact them. If your grandchildren are doing okay at the moment, it means that somebody in their lives is doing a good job. I suspect you’re a big part of that.

Pip: You’re much more active and fit than I am, but I’m making progress and that pleases me. I don’t wear a fitbit, but I don’t notice much change in my heart rate during spin class. It is generally slow & my blood pressure is on the low side. When I was in my twenties my physician told me I’d live forever. I hope not. I want to live a good long life and be healthy every minute, but I don’t want to live forever.

Kim: I’m glad that your counseling appointment provided you with homework that prompted you to turn a corner and feel better. Yay!

Sharon: I’m so glad your counseling appointment had some positives. Learning to fight fair is really important. We took a class on fighting fair early in our marriage. It has been a blessing. On the health front, I had mysterious pains when I was in my late forties & early fifties. I had lots of medical testing of the, “is it this or that” sort, and it turned out to be both acid reflux AND gallstones. Surgery fixed the gallbladder issue and medication keeps the acid reflux under control. I hope you end up with a reasonable solution, too.



Some of you are facing very stressful times with health & marriage issues. I’ve recently been through stressful marriage/family issues. Last summer I was falling apart due to DH’s declining health situation. He distracted himself from the health issue by spending a wad of money on a fishing boat, and that was upsetting, too. I didn’t handle the health worries and the money worries at all well. I confess that I drank too much. Alcohol didn’t help. My kids thought I was the problem and confronted me. They feared Alzheimer’s. That was quite a wake up call.

I made changes in what I do. Now I take responsibility for my health and make it a priority rather than spending all my time worrying about DH. I quit alcohol because it was not helping at all and focused on getting more sleep. I still focus on sleep. I’m doing a LOT better. I owe Kim for the tip on an AARP article about the importance of sleep.

There is still stress, but I’m handling it differently. I hope that those of you with challenges will remember to take good care of yourselves as your first priority.

Today I have yoga! Yay! In just three more weeks I’ll be back to riding. Double yay for that. These are the things I do to take care of me.


Katla in Beautiful NW Oregon


“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison


April Goals:
1. Log every bite and swallow.
2. Cardio exercise at least 3 days a week. Work on flexibility and back
strength.
3. Have fun every day.
4. Drink at least three glasses of water daily, preferably more!
5. Eliminate alcohol.
6. Monitor sleep. Try to average 7 or more hours of sleep nightly.

holy crap u guys are smart!!!
jmkmomm = moved there on 10/11/96-10/11/99 syracuse indiana on lake wawasee. I know the dates because my husband died on 10/10/95 and Kirby (my now husband) was a planner and said we should get to Indiana on the 10th.. I told him NOOOO, we can't. so he delayed it a day for me, just so happened the same thing when we came back.

well... this weekend we are going to the ocean to our lot and it's supposed to be nice... the dogs will be happy, we are going after the gym on Saturday. since we get crappy reception, hopefully I will still be able to log... i'm on a 993day streak and I would hate to loose it.

annnndddddd.. this weekend he is putting our winter bikes to sleep and then getting out our skinny summer bikes![img]http://cd8ba0b44a15c10065fd- 24461f391e20b7336331d5789078af53.r23.cf1.rackcdn.com/mfp-en.vanillaforums.com/editor/57/lg49z3qqc4yr.jpg[/img]

coming out monday!! skinny bike means, skinnier tires that make u faster and bike is lighter. vroom vroom!!!

Good afternoon! I love Fridays since I have to work only five hours! Woohoo! I haven't been home before 8-8:30 p.m. any night this week so I am really dragging. However, last night was fun. I had a Finance Team meeting at my church and, has become a tradition, I go out "drinking" afterwards with a couple of the guys. They are both married (one is in his mid/late 70s) and therefore are "safe" for me and we have a blast talking and laughing. They get a kick out of flirting with me (all harmless) and it makes me feel really good. It's really nice hanging out with people who genuinely care about me, too. When I talked (Facetime) with my friend last night, she kept saying she couldn't get over how much more relaxed and happy that I looked from the night before. I really need to find some local friends to hang out with. Yes, Kim, I know I need to check out Meetup groups.

Because of the late nights and fatigue, I didn't make my 11,000 step goal for the past two days, but have made good food choices so the fewer exercise calories didn't derail me. In fact, the guys bought my dinner last night (I told them about my debit card and offered to write a check to one of them to cover my meal, but one guy paid for everyone's.) and I had a blackened tilapia sandwich that was incredible! I was looking for something lower calorie that wasn't grilled chicken and was thrilled when I saw the tilapia. I got a "half salad" for my side (it was huge) and it all came in at just over 500 calories which fit my allotment for the day and made me really full.

We are supposed to finally see some sun this afternoon. I do believe this has been the rainiest winter and spring that I can remember. I sure do wish we could share with California! Depending on the temps, I hope to get to walk in the park this evening. I don't do well in heat.

Cynthia - I am so proud (and jealous) of you for handling your work situation so bravely and boldly. And I loved the quote (I can't remember who wrote it) about not letting someone rub the s*** in. I need to remember that one!

It's time for me to leave work now. I hope everyone has a joyous Friday!

Carol in NC

I have got to do a better job of reading. How can I read Kayakcutie/Tina's whole post, remember the friend hitting the telephone pole and the upcoming retirement, but totally miss the story about the guard getting shot at work and forget who posted it? I am so sorry all this is going on with you, Tina. Thanks again to those of you who do pay attention and comment. It does help me catch up.

And to all of you who have traumatic things happening that I just ignore, please, please, please forgive me. I do read most and send up a prayer as I am reading. I just can't keep up. And some, I confess, do get lost to skimming.

Carey - I echo your thanks! :flowerforyou:

Drkatie - sometimes I'm the same. In fact, the more horrific the incident, the more I'm stuck for words. I read it and go, "Oh my gosh!", but don't comment because it's almost beyond words.
Sometimes when I read of all the traumas in some of your lives I don't know how you keep on keeping on. :flowerforyou: I am in admiration.

I have had my green veg curry, with a blob of yoghurt. 200 filling calories. I have had my ONE drink and will be stopping there. Next some stewed pears with yogurt. I like a heavy drizzle of no calorie caramel sauce on my pears. I will have enough calories for 1 ounce of cheese.

Missing DH , but coping.

Heather in still warm and too dry Hampshire UK

Call me crazy but I love to see other people happy and succeeding.

Good Afternoon Ladies,

I'm sorry this is so long, but I couldn't post last night due to computer/internet problems.

Terri, you are right on the planks. Anything more than we didn’t do before is a start. I’m up to about 20 seconds. I actually do a slow count so it might be longer. Haven’t figured out how to look at a clock and do one? There is probably a stop clock on my phone but haven’t looked yet. Anyway, good for you. These ladies motivated me, too.

Pip, you don’t have to brag about having boobs, still. Actually I don’t even care except clothes look so much better if you have a little something up top. I know 68 is just a number but all of a sudden it’s like I’m almost 70 and haven’t even decided what I want to do when I grow up. How’d that happen? BTW, I love your picture. You are so pretty and really do look young.

Sylvia, Margaret and Heather, I don’t like to show my ignorance, but are you telling me that proper typing does not have two spaces after a sentence? I thought it was just that the younger generation was too lazy to bother the same way they will type in all lower case. Wow, now I really feel behind the times. I thought Heather was saying she had double spaced the typing and it needed to be single spaced. Now I’m confused. (as usual)
Sylvia, sorry about the night you had and your future ex DIL. I hope she’s okay. Glad GD went on her field trip.

Margaret, if your brother couldn’t get what he wanted out of your Mom’s house in 3 months, I’d say he must not have wanted it too badly. It’s ashamed someone else is paying to have it cleaned out if it’s mostly his stuff.

Carol, great shopping! Now that is how you save money. My DH keeps complaining about this dreary weather we’re having, but I tell him it could be like the flood areas in Tex, up through GA. I’m just glad we aren’t having their problems and my heart goes out to them. But it would be nice to see the sun.

Toni, Great going to do all that exercise and end the pouty party. It is upsetting when we plan one thing and the plans change without our input. So proud of you and that you heard all the voices encouraging you. Way to go.

Allison, sorry about the interview but I was wondering if he was going to have time after being out of town. It is not a rejection, just a reality. I’m sure you’ll get the interview. At least you put your time to good use and I’ll bet you were the sharpest dressed shopper in Lowes.

Sylvia, love, love, love the second joke! I told it to DH and he died laughing. (I keep telling him he can’t’ hear, but he won’t admit it.) It’s getting bad enough that it’s a little embarrassing at restaurants when I have to repeat everything that the server says. His response is that it’s the tone of their voice. Funny that they “all” have the same tone that he can’t hear. The video was so sweet and I loved all the reactions. And very interesting articles.

Yannie, sad that you lost a crown. Your boiled cabbage must be a lot firmer than mine or the crown was ready to come off anyway. Yikes, those things are expensive.

Tina, it is so good to hear from you. How awful about the events at work. That would have frightened me and I don’t scare easily. I hope you enjoy your retirement. I sure do mine. I know what you mean about not feeling shorter, but since DH knows I’ve lost 3” he keeps making short jokes.

Jane, I’ve been thinking about you. I hope you are taking your time unpacking. Unless you have company planned, there is no real rush. I’m sure you’d like to have it all done and the boxes gone, but I hope you take time out for yourself. ((Hugs))

Joyce, ROFL about smoking the freshly shampooed carpet. I love you guys!!! And how dare you make Charlie eat that loaded pizza?! You are so mean to him. I wondered about standing upside down to take that picture, too. LOL

Sharon, I read your description about what the doctors are/have trying. I assume you must have forgotten that that’s why they keep “Practicing”. I agree that it often seems like a guessing game. Sometimes I think we could take the prescription guide and just try things until something works. I know it’s not an exact science but some doctors seem so much more caring and competent than others. So glad DH is still going to counseling. Remember that your relationship is like our weight; it didn’t get where it is overnight and won’t be corrected overnight. Now that you are both working on it, try to be patient. We are all pulling for you!!!!

Heather, yay for you on that exercising. Don’t you feel so proud of yourself when you push through and get it done? I’d give you a pat on the back, but afraid I’d fall off. The bookmarks sound like a good idea. Do you have friends that will help drop them at places for you? You know you can do up a Facebook post on it and we can all share it with our friends.

Allison, love your FB post and agree wholeheartedly. I have read so much lately about Live in the Present, and it’s true because it will be gone in a flash. Memories are great, but we need to enjoy “now”.

Sylvia, glad you slept well. If I didn’t get up once, I’d be afraid I’d have an accident.

Lillian, you are one pound from your goal???? Wow. Even though you may talk a while to get there, you have to be elated. I can’t wait. (But as my Dad always said, “you will”. When as a child I’d say, I can’t wait for Christmas.”)

NMMargaret, glad the worst of the cold is over and think it’s wise to rest. Thanks for the added info on probiotics, it’s all very interesting.

Mary, have fun at the celebration. Wow, 3 days. I’m afraid I’d drink too much in that amount to time.

Katie, I love your attitude toward the sub job. Gosh if only more people were as easy going. Good for you.

Katla, you make such a good point about taking care of ourselves. I think we just grew up with the mindset of taking care of our spouse and family as a top priority. It was as if we were selfish if we wanted to take care of ourselves. Now we know that we can’t help the one’s we love if we aren’t healthy enough. Always a good reminder.

Pip, are you warning everyone that you will be zooming around even faster? Sounds like fun.

Carol, it sounds like you had a great evening. Good for you. Yes, friends are wonderful to help you unwind and release tension.

Welcome to any Newbies that I missed. Come often and join in the chat. This thing works!! Please sign your post with what you want to be called. It makes it easier for us to respond to you. Also a location is great, be it specific or general. We are happy to have you join us.

It was a bad back morning. Maybe too much moving things yesterday. Did get in most of my exercises, so proud about that.


I hope you all have a wonderful day free of stress and worry.

Thought for the day.
Do not confuse my bad days as a sign of weakness.
Those are actually the days I am fighting my hardest.



Words I live by:
Savor. I have to slow down and savor every bite.
and
Opportunity. Each day offers new opportunities for good health and happiness if we just look for them and choose them.

Janet
Myrtle Beach, SC